Destiny 2 Forsaken Review: The Road To Redemption For Bungie

Destiny 2 Forsaken Review: The Road To Redemption For Bungie

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Destiny 2 Forsaken expansion is here, a year after the base game came out and straight off the bat it is clear that the new expansion has a lot to offer as compared to Curse of Osiris and Warmind. This review will be completed once the raid is released and I can have a go at it but this is what I think of the Destiny 2 Forsaken expansion so far.

Destiny 2 Forsaken Review

I was able to play the complete campaign and it is safe to say that the amount of content that you get is more than the previous expansions combined not to mention the plot twists in the story that the casual gamer will not see coming however, Destiny 2 fans might be following the leaks and breakdowns so they might have a basic idea of what to expect. Even if that is the case then you can expect to see a pretty big plot twist in the end.

I am not going to spoil the game for people that have not played the game, so I am going to try my best not to reveal too much while talking about the lore and the story.

The Progression

I came back to Destiny 2 a few weeks before Forsaken dropped so I was already at power level 350 when the expansion released. By the end of the main story I was at 480 and the items keep dropping, boosting you higher and higher.

My last session got me to level 49. So you can imagine how quick the progression is. If you are playing the main story with your fireteam then it will be pretty easy but I did it solo so it took a while for me to kill all the barons but it is worth it. If you are in it to avenge Cayde then you will be delighted to know that each Barron is unique in its own way and that the fights are different as well.

The Boss Battles

These are not generic boss fights. Each Barron has a weapon of choice, a tactic and a personality. So you will need to adapt and killing them one by one is satisfying indeed. While the boss fights are a bit different, the hunt is pretty much the same. You fight some low-level enemies until you get to the main Barron fight at the end. The boss fights do not have checkpoints, so if you die you will have to do the fight all over again. That can be a bit of a challenge if you are trying to do all 8 solo. Something that I have experienced first hand.

To give you an example, the trickster plants bombs that are disguised as exotic engrams and ammo. Picking these up will cause them to explode. These can be used to your advantage in some cases but in general, you are always guessing whether or not you should pick up the power ammo that is right in front of you. I’m not giving any tips here, that is something that you will need to figure out on your own.

Each boss battle is satisfying on its own and at the end of all 8 you get to the last boss battle that is something very different and unique in its own way, but no spoilers, so you will have to check it out on your own. What I can tell you is that you can feel the build-up that leads to the final boss battle and killing each of these 8 Barrons is satisfying in its own way.

It’s Not For New Players

It is worth noting that if you are new to the game then you can play Forsaken but you will still need to get all the previous content. You get a boost that gets you up to speed. This can be used on a single character but then you will not be able to play the content that was released before Forsaken. If you want to do that then you will need to start a new game with a new character.

This might not be the best time to get into the game and skip everything to jump right into Destiny 2 Forsaken expansion. This time it is not about saving the world, it is about revenge and if you do not have that emotional attachment to Cayde then it is more than likely that you won’t have the same motivation as the rest of the players, so that is something to keep in mind. If you want to feel what everyone else feels then I suggest that you start from the beginning. Save that boost for your second character when you want to play as a different class.

New Scorn Race

The new enemy type is a welcome addition to the game and you will notice from the get-go that these enemies are very aggressive indeed and at first you might be overwhelmed. There are different types of creatures that you will be facing like the enemies with the mace the get into your face. They pound down the mace and that puts the surrounding area on fire. If you are caught then you will get burn damage even after you leave that affected area.

There are other spider-like creatures that will explode when they get near you. They are pretty quick and if you do not react on time then one of these can kill you pretty easily. It is safe to say that these enemies are pretty challenging as compared to the others in the game. I went back to different planets after ending the campaign and I noticed that killing other enemies and dealing with them was like a walk in the park since I had been hardwired to deal with the aggressive Scorn.

New Weapons And Gear

One of the major additionals to the game is the bow. This might seem to be a slow weapon but the implementation is pretty good. As of writings this I have played with the bow that you get in the campaign and let me tell you that it can fire accurately and you can take some long shots too. It is kind of like a sniper. A fully charged shot did critical damage and that was enough to kill a normal enemy with one hit. Other than that you can use it in close quarters as well as it can fire pretty fast if you don’t hold down.

I did not have much time to check out the gear in Destiny 2 Forsaken and have only seen the basic stuff right now. In the future when I am able to check out the new legendary and exotic gear I will update you regarding the matter but for now, what I can tell you is that the infusion system has changed a lot and you need plenty of materials in order to upgrade your gear. If you want to be raid ready as soon as the raid goes live then you will have to do it with regular gear.

Bringing your preferred gear up to level is going to require a lot of hard work, time and grind. That is what the infusion system is like now. Other than that, you can now upgrade weapon tiers in order to improve stats like accuracy and make these weapon masterworks. This is a great feature and I was quick to upgrade my bow to tier 6, having spent all my masterworks cores, there was little else that I could upgrade later on. If you want to play it clever then you might not want to make the same mistake.

The year one mods are not being used right now, so you can dismantle them in order to get components that you can use for other things. This should give you additional space. I had loads of mods from year one and I got plenty of glimmer and mod components from dismantling these useless mods.

New Activities

There are a couple of new strikes that you can check out including the ones that were exclusive to PS4. It is worth mentioning that while the strikes are a bit different they still use the old formula. First, you will kill some mid-level enemies and then a boss battle. While getting new strikes is great for people that are fed up with running the old ones, these are not all that new if you really think about it.

The new activity that was a lot of fun is the Gambit mode. This is majorly PvE but there is a slight twist where a single player from one team can attack the other team. This makes things very interesting indeed and it is a lot of fun. I believe that because of this new mode, people who did not like PvP will come back to the Crucible this time around.

Verdict

After being disappointed with the last 2 expansions I have to say that the Destiny 2 Forsaken expansion is almost everything that I would have liked to see in an expansion. It just missed the mark of being perfect. Destiny 2 Forsaken is a major step up from the previous expansions and could be the same as the Taken King expansion was for the first game.

The unsatisfying part of the story was the end, where you get a blank screen instead of watching the deed being done if you know what I mean. I was hoping to watch it happen. That seemed like a bit of a disappointment. Other than that there is plenty of stuff to do before the raid drops. Stay tuned for an update once the raid drops and I get a chance to run it a few times.

I would go as far as to say that Destiny 2 Forsaken is the road to redemption for Bungie that we were hoping for. I am happy that the developer has heard feedback and has implemented ideas that fans wanted and needed so badly. But knowing Bungie I would not be too excited yet. I will have to wait and see how long this lasts. I am still afraid that there could be a big disappointment around the corner. I hope that it is not the raid.

Let us know what you think about Destiny 2 Forsaken, if you have played it and if you have not them let us know whether or not you are interested in giving it a go.

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8.5

Destiny 2: Forsaken

Destiny 2: Forsaken is the road to redemption for Bungie that we were hoping for. I am happy that the developer has heard feedback and has implemented ideas that fans wanted and needed so badly.